IRS Q2 2010: Hindi Dailies In Delhi

Second quarter of IRS 2010 has given mixed results for Hindi dailies in Delhi market.

The Times of India Group’s ‘Navbharat Times’ remains at the first spot with AIR of 17, 24,000. The paper has seen growth of 2% in its AIR. In QI 0f IRS 2010 the paper had AIR of 16, 90,000.

The gain of Navbharat Times has become loss of ‘Hindustan’. Hindustan has seen decline of 2% in its AIR in Delhi. The paper remains at second spot with AIR of 11, 60,000. The paper had AIR of 11, 89,000 in Q1 of IRS 2010.

‘Punjabi Kesri’ has also registered marginal dip of 1% in its AIR. The paper has lost 5000 readers and now its AIR stands at 7, 45,000. But the paper stands firm at No. 3 position.

‘Dainik Jagran’ has grabbed the fourth position with 6, 62,000 readers. The paper has experienced growth of 2% in its AIR. The paper had AIR of 6, 51,000 in Q1 of IRS 2010.

At No. 5 is ‘Amar Ujala’ with AIR of 95,000 readers. The paper has lost 3000 readers in this quarter.

Average Issue Readership (AIR) of a publication is defined as the number of readers of that publication who have claimed to have last read it within periodicity – i.e. last read a daily yesterday, a weekly within the last week, a monthly within the last month, etc.

This measure is considered to be a more relevant measure of ‘real’ or ‘regular’ readership, especially for newspapers, most of which have been read / ‘consumed’ as matter of daily habit. Conventionally, media planners even calculate & compare cost-benefits of dailies based on the AIR figure. And hence it is perhaps most relevant to study readership trends as well in terms of AIR.